In this episode of The Courage to Lead Interview Series, from the outside, Debbie Lee is the owner and publisher of Ginninderra Press and Festival Director of Melbourne Jewish Book Week. But listen to her story, and a different picture emerges: Debbie is a connector – a woman whose natural instinct is to draw people in, make sure no one is left out, and turn individual voices into living, breathing communities.
Her leadership hasn’t come from a textbook or a formal course. It’s grown from a childhood sense of fairness, a lifelong love of words, and a deep belief that stories can change how we see ourselves and each other.
A Childhood Shaped by Fairness and “The Kid Left Out”
Debbie Lee can’t point to one defining moment of “first leadership.” Instead, she remembers a pattern:
a little girl in the classroom who gravitated towards the shy child, the ostracised child, the one being left out.
She was “acutely aware of fairness,” drawn to kids who needed “a little bit of a helping hand.” Even when she made mistakes – like playing a cruel childhood prank she still remembers with regret – she reflected on them deeply. Decades later, she sought out the girl involved at a school reunion to apologise.
That willingness to reflect, repair and grow is at the heart of Debbie’s leadership. For her, connection isn’t just about being friendly; it’s about accountability, empathy and making sure people feel they belong.
Debbie Lee: From Bookshop Reps to Relationship Builder
Debbie Lee never set out to be “a leader.” She followed what she loved: words, books and people.
Her first job was as a sales rep in trade publishing, visiting bookshops in Sydney and Canberra, hand-selling now-classic authors like Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison. These were the “halcyon days” of publishing – long before spreadsheets and automated stock systems – where relationships were everything. You read the books, you knew the lists, and you spoke face-to-face with booksellers who loved literature as much as you did.
Those early years were an apprenticeship in connection. Debbie learned the power of conversation, curiosity and genuine interest. She wasn’t just pushing product; she was building trust. Bookshops rolled out the red carpet when the reps came to town, and those relationship-based skills would shape everything she did next.
Commissioning Voices, Not Just Textbooks
When Debbie Lee moved into educational publishing as a national TAFE rep and then an acquisitions editor, her role changed – but her purpose didn’t.
She began commissioning local authors to write vocational textbooks for the newly nationalised curriculum. Early childhood, accounting, office administration, even tungsten arc welding – whatever the subject, Debbie was out there knocking on doors, finding the people best placed to teach it, and bringing them into the publishing fold.
Behind the title “acquisitions editor” was something more powerful: Debbie was building networks of experts, teachers and practitioners whose knowledge would ripple through classrooms around the country. She didn’t always feel confident, especially when presenting at sales conferences, but she pushed through the nerves out of a desire not to let others down.
Her lack of confidence became fuel. She prepared harder, listened more deeply and, over time, proved to herself she could stand on the stage as well as behind the scenes.
Debbie Lee: The Gift of Ginninderra Press – and a New Kind of Network
A turning point in Debbie Lee’s life came when her long-time friend and colleague, publisher Stephen Matthews, became terminally ill and gifted her Ginninderra Press.
With the blessing of Stephen’s wife, Debbie stepped into a role that was at once deeply personal and profoundly public: preserving Stephen’s legacy while reshaping the press with her own energy and vision.
Where Stephen had kept things small and behind the scenes, Debbie leaned into what gives her energy – people. Against his gentle warning not to get too involved with authors, she did the opposite:
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She meets them on Zoom and in cafés.
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She attends their book launches and festivals.
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She helps them find opportunities, panels and platforms.
Ginninderra Press under Debbie hasn’t just become a publishing house; it’s become a networked community of writers, readers and advocates who are connected through her generosity and enthusiasm.
A Voice for the Voiceless: Social Justice on the Page
Debbie Lee’s strong sense of social justice, present in that primary-school classroom, now runs like a thread through the titles she champions.
She’s:
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Published and promoted First Nations voices, including Black, White and Colour, a hardcover photo-biography of Mervyn Bishop, Australia’s first Indigenous professional photographer.
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Aligned books with cultural institutions like the State Library of NSW, using publishing as a bridge between community, history and public memory.
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Backed an 81-year-old survivor of childhood abuse whose memoir will lift the lid on silence, shame and power, with a Good Weekend feature already in motion.
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Sat with a former gambling addict and now advocate, whose story touches homelessness, domestic violence and systemic harm – and promised to help her get that story to the world, whether through Ginninderra or another path.
In each case, Debbie is doing more than producing books. She’s helping people turn trauma into testimony, and testimony into change. She’s building networks of readers, listeners and supporters around voices that might otherwise stay unheard.
Bridging Communities in a Polarised World
As Festival Director of Melbourne Jewish Book Week, Debbie Lee’s instinct to create connection is being tested in one of the most polarised periods in recent memory.
She speaks candidly about rising antisemitism, feeling “othered” as a Jewish child at a Church of England school, and the shock of seeing “Readers and Writers Against the Genocide” T-shirts in literary spaces she once considered safe. Yet even here, her response is not withdrawal, but deeper engagement.
One of her proudest events was hosting Rami and Bassam – an Israeli and a Palestinian, each of whom lost a daughter in the conflict, but chose to become peace-builders and best friends. The room overflowed with people hungry for a different story: one of dialogue, empathy and shared humanity.
Debbie’s leadership here is quiet but courageous. She insists on nuance where others demand slogans, and on complexity where others prefer simple blame. She uses her platforms to show that Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and non-Jews, can and do work together for peace – even when that reality is invisible in the headlines.
“Debbie Have-a-Chat Lee”: Connection as a Superpower
Debbie Lee laughs that she’s known as “Debbie Have-a-Chat Lee,” and she says it with affection. Where some might see talkativeness as a flaw, she treats it as a superpower – a way of learning, encouraging and joining the dots.
She:
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Helps indie authors navigate self-publishing, hybrid models and mainstream options.
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Introduces people across the industry – from small presses to multinationals, from booksellers to festival directors.
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Goes with authors to scout venues for launches and memorials.
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Is building a Stephen Matthews Award to honour the founder of Ginninderra and further nurture the community he began.
Everything comes back to relationships. Debbie doesn’t just know people; she remembers them, believes in them and actively looks for ways to connect them.
The Courage to Lead Through Connection
Debbie Lee resists the label “leader,” but her story tells a different tale.
Leadership, in her world, looks like:
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Standing up for the kid being left out – and owning it when you get it wrong.
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Calling out sexist or patronising behaviour with a quiet but firm, “That’s enough now.”
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Using a publishing imprint and a literary festival to amplify voices that challenge injustice.
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Holding space for difficult conversations about identity, history and conflict.
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Continuing to show up with curiosity, humour and heart, even when it would be easier to stay quiet.
Debbie Lee shows us that leadership doesn’t always sit in the corner office or on the keynote stage. Often, it sits at the café table, the festival green room or the email introduction – in every moment where one person chooses to connect, include and champion another.
In a world that feels increasingly fractured, Debbie’s life is a reminder: we build stronger communities not through grand gestures, but through thousands of small acts of connection.
During the interview Debbie Lee was asked to name some authors and books that would help listeners understand the Israel/Gaza conflict. Debbie could not list them to the level she wanted to during the interview but here is a list she later provided.
‘The Gates of Gaza’ by Amir Tibon.
And anything by historian Benny Morris -e.g, ‘One State, Two States: Resolving the Israeli-Palestine Conflict’…